Let's take a look at the top 10 NFT projects

[caption id="attachment_5271" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Let's take a look at the top 10 NFT projects[/caption]

What is this year's keyword?

What is the most talked-about keyword in 2021 penetrating the blockchain-driven digital transformation?

By far, NFTs can be cited.

In the midst of controversy over blockchain, NFT technology has also emerged following Metaverse.

The NFT craze is sweeping various industries. There are different opinions about this.

What is clear is that the social and economic value of the new industries created by NFTs is on the rise.

If you look at the market size, the accumulated transaction amount of OpenSea, the world's largest NFT marketplace, has exceeded $13.3 billion as of December 16, 2021.

NFT games such as Axie Infinity, NFT Collectible Cryptopunk, etc. are also breaking records every day.

When most people hear the word NFT, they think of NFT art. This is because a significant portion of the mammoth-grade NFT deals that have made headlines since late 2020 were artworks.

In particular, in March 2021, at a Christie's auction in the US, digital artist Bipple (real name Mike Winkelmann)'s digital work 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days' sold for about 68 million dollars, surprising the world.

However, contrary to public perception, NFT is being used in various ways not only in art, but also in game collectibles (collectibles).

Today, we have compiled the TOP 10 NFT projects.

1. Cryptopunks

[caption id="attachment_5269" align="aligncenter" width="401"] Cryptopunks[/caption]

Number of items: 298
Owners: 56
Lowest price currently on sale: 150ETH
All trading volumes in the collection: 9.1K
(As of December 23, 2021 opensea)

Cryptopunks is an Ethereum-based NFT project developed by New York software company Larva Labs in June 2017.

10,000 avatars with face images made up of 24 pixels wide and vertical have been published.

This project can be said to be the beginning of NFT.

Cryptopunk is evaluated to have strengthened the concept of virtual assets, developed the NFT issuance standard ERC-721, and laid the foundation for the formation of the NFT market.

All cryptopunks have different traits, including different looks, personalities, and styles.

The rarer the trait, the more rare traits you have, the higher the value

The rarity of cryptopunk is divided according to various characteristics. It consists of 6039 males, 3840 females, 88 zombies, 24 apes, and 9 aliens, with various additional characteristics such as hats, hairstyles, and accessories.

A cryptopunk NFT was exhibited at the 21st Century Evening Sale held on May 13, 2021, at Christie's, a global art auction company.

Lava Labs co-founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson own nine rare cryptopunks, with a winning bid of $17 million, double the expected price.

Private companies such as global payment company VisaCard also joined the NFT craze.

In August 2021, Visa also bought Cryptopunk #7610 for 49.5 ETH.

2. Bored Ape Yacht Club (Bored Monkeys' Yacht Club)

[caption id="attachment_5272" align="aligncenter" width="399"] Bored Ape Yacht Club (Bored Monkeys' Yacht Club)[/caption]

Number of items: 10.0K (10,000 pieces)
Owner: 6.0K
Lowest price currently on sale: 52.2ETH
All trading volumes in the collection: 267.2K

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is an NFT that has published 10,000 pictures of monkeys with a bored expression on them.

The initial selling price was 0.08 ETH, all sold at the same price.

The basic structure is similar to that of cryptopunk.

The rarity depends on 170 traits, including the background color, hat, eyes, and clothing.

The Apes NFT is the only ticket and membership card that allows you to enter the online hideout 'BAYC' for NFT collectors.

The ape NFT is an image depicting a 'face' rather than a motion.

This type of project is a 'PFP NFT' which corresponds to digital art in the form of a profile

As a type of NFT that can be used as a profile picture on social platforms, it can serve as a replacement for the kind of profile picture we used to use.

Twitter, a social media company, has also created a separate function that allows you to conveniently display your NFT as a profile picture in connection with the NFT exchange from September 2021.

Recently, fashion brand Adidas has collaborated with BAYC to officially start selling limited edition NFTs. The official name of this project is 'Into the Metaverse'. Buying NFTs 'into the metaverse' allows you to own both physical and digital goods.

3. CryptoKitties

[caption id="attachment_5273" align="aligncenter" width="437"] Cryptokitties[/caption]

Number of items: 2.0M
Owner: 111.1K
Lowest price currently on sale: ---
All trading volumes in the collection: 70.0K

The beginning of the NFT craze can also be seen as CryptoKitties, a blockchain-based digital cat castle game released in 2017.

CryptoKitties is a game that fosters a virtual cat.

It is characterized by the random creation of characters that did not Axiest before by breeding cats.

Cats are all different, so it was very popular with users who like to collect.

Cat characters can be collected and traded through cryptocurrency

CryptoKitties's character 'Dragon' was sold for 600 ETH.
At current market prices, it is equivalent to about $2.8 million. Unlike Cryptopunk, CryptoKitties attracted the attention of users as a game.

In 2017, when the service started, some cat characters
It was also evaluated that it proved the marketability of the NFT service for the first time as it was traded at a price close to $100,000.

Because it was developed based on the Ethereum platform, the fee burden is high.

Gradually the popularity waned. Nevertheless, I think CryptoKitties is like a Pokémon in the blockchain era.

It is because the plump cheeks and cute eyes alone captured the hearts of collectors.

In addition, the fact that it is one of the original NFT projects that had a profound impact on the blockchain industry itself is very similar.

4. NBA Top Shot

[caption id="attachment_5274" align="aligncenter" width="394"] NBA Top Shot[/caption]

Owner: over 100,000
All volumes in the collection: over 2.3 million

NBA TopShot is an NFT card trading platform launched in July 2019 by Dapper Labs, the famous creator of CryptoKitties, in collaboration with the NBA.

Inspired by real basketball card trading, it captures 'moments' such as NBA players' play or game highlights in 15-second video footage.
It is made with NFT trading cards.

*Card trading is a segment of the collectibles market with a market value of $5-6 trillion annually

While physical basketball cards are limited to static images, digital basketball cards can contain dynamic media.

NBA Top-Shot cards are issued on Dapper Labs' own blockchain called 'flow'. Each NFT includes a video clip of the 'moments' as well as metadata containing relevant information, such as the player's match statistics, play analysis highlights, and on-court footage.

Topshot made $36 million in sales in 5 months since it opened in October 2020. Cards that cost $10 soared dozens of times.

The most expensive NBA top shot 'Moment' is a LeBron James slam dunk scene.

It is said to have sold for around $246720.

There are two ways for consumers to purchase Topshot's cards. The first is how to draw card packs and how to buy them in the marketplace.

NBA fans will be able to own key scenes by purchasing cards for their favorite players.

Cards have different values ​​depending on the player and their serial number, depending on the grade they have been awarded.

Popular players in the NBA, high-ranking (Normal, Fandom, Rare, Legendary, Ultimate) cards, and cards with the same number as the player's jersey number from the front of each card are traded at a higher price.

5. Beeple's 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days'

[caption id="attachment_5275" align="aligncenter" width="432"] Beeple's 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days'[/caption]

(Daily: first 5000 days)
Price: 68 million dollars
Characteristics: The 3rd most expensive winning bid for a living artist's work
Evaluation: Artwork that first showed that NFT 'makes money'

In March 2021, at a Christie's auction in the US, digital artist Bipple (real name Mike Winkelman)'s digital work 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days' sold for about 68 million dollars, surprising the world.

As the title of the work suggests, Bipple has been creating digital artworks, one a day, for over 5,000 days since 2007, without taking a day off.

The winning bid this time is a single NFT that combines 5,000 creations so far.

Although opinions differ, such as artistry and the possibility of operation to raise prices, many people have become very interested in NFT art through Beeple's work. The art market, which had been stagnant due to Corona, etc., was once again focused on the public's attention with the NFT as an opportunity.

Afterward, the NFT art market began to grow in earnest, with Sotheby's, the two largest auction markets, also selling NFT artworks.

Beeple's NFT is evaluated as an artwork that proves that 'NFT is money'.

It was the highest bid in digital work history, and the third most expensive bid for a living artist, after Koons and Hockney.

There are also views that Bipple's winning bid will be the beginning of digital art history.

Beeple said in an interview that he hopes that the emergence of the NFT will solve this problem, although artists have distributed digital artworks on the Internet but have never been able to truly own and collect them.

If NFT is successfully established as he wishes, it will be an important step for the art market to transform into digital art.

6. War Nymph of Grimes

[caption id="attachment_5276" align="aligncenter" width="438"] War Nymph of Grimes[/caption]

Price: About $5.8 million
Features: Earned $5.8 million in 20 minutes
Evaluation: Inspired the craze of virtual assets using NFT
Canadian singer Grimes, famous for being the lover of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has put up 10 digital paintings titled 'War Nymph' for an online auction.

Newborn 1-4, Battle of the War Nymphs, Death of the Old, Gods in Hi-res, Rokoko Monolith, etc. . The paintings were auctioned off in 20 minutes.
Auction for a total of $5.8 million
It drew a lot of attention.

It received a lot of attention as speculation arose that it depicts a child born to Musk and Grimes, who has a high interest in space.

In this work, Grimes' song is applied to a virtual image such as a winged baby angel protecting Mars.

Grimes explained that the baby angel in the work is the 'goddess of the New Genesis'.
All.

This painting can be viewed by anyone online due to the nature of the NFT, but ownership only remains with the person who purchased the digital painting through an auction.

The British Daily Mail
"The performance of Grimes' online auction has fueled a craze for virtual assets using NFT," he said.

7. Axie Infinity

[caption id="attachment_5277" align="aligncenter" width="426"] Axie Infinity[/caption]

Number of items: 283.8K
Owner: 45.3K
Lowest price currently on sale: ---
All trading volumes in the collection: 27.5K

Axie Infinity is a game created by Vietnamese startup Sky Mavis and is an Ethereum-based blockchain game.

It is the most popular NFT game in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Axie Infinity is an Ethereum-based NFT collectible game created by inheriting the concept of CryptoKitties. Axiera can breed, breed, fight, or trade token-type pet monsters.

It is a P2E (Play to Earn) game that allows you to collect Axie, a digital pet that looks like a Pokémon, and participates in a loom with a prize to acquire Small Love Potion (SLP), the game's own token.

You can strengthen Axi through Small Love Potion or monetize it through an exchange.

Axie is an NFT that users own and control, which can be stored in a personal wallet or transferred to another Ethereum address.

You can also trade with other users on a blockchain-based marketplace.

Axie are pets that can fight, collect and nurture. Each Axie has 6 body parts (eyes, ears, back, mouth, horns, tail).

You will participate in battles with four stat values: Health, Morale, Skill, and Speed.

Axie Infinity has recently reached 2 million daily active users (DAU), enjoying the popularity that surpasses that of global masterpieces.

Axie Infinity NFT transaction volume exceeded 2.96 trillion won in the third quarter of this year alone.

In November 2021, the virtual land in Axie Infinity was sold for about $2.5 million.

Axie Infinity is considered a leader in the P2E (Play to Earn) game field, where players make money while playing games.

It is a business model in that not only game developers but also game users can make money.

Users can receive tokens or rewards while playing the game and use it in the game, or trade in the open market if desired.

In other words, anyone can earn money by investing time and effort through a well-planned 'in-game economy'.

For example, 40% of Axie Infinity users are from the Philippines. It is also known that Filipinos who have lost their jobs are earning income by acquiring small love potions.

The problem is that users do not spend game coins inside

Most of the time, the real value of game coins has fallen to a tenth level in 5 months due to only cashing out.

8. MIR4 (mir 4)

[caption id="attachment_5278" align="aligncenter" width="454"] MIR4 (mir 4)[/caption]

Price: Mir 4 global item 'About $100.000'
Features: One of P2E (Play to Earn)
Evaluation: Presenting the future and direction of blockchain-based games

Mir 4, which Wemade launched globally in August 2021, has been launched in over 170 countries and 12 languages, so that users of various nationalities can enjoy the game together without language barriers.

However, it was not released in China due to the issuance of the version number, and the technology was not applied in Korea due to the policy of the regulatory authorities.

In the global version, 'DRACO', a utility coin with blockchain technology applied, uses black iron acquired in the game.

It can be exchanged for Draco at a ratio of 1 to 100,000. Heukcheol in the game is valuable because it has various uses such as equipment crafting, strengthening, and emotion.

Draco can be exchanged for WEMIX tokens, a virtual currency issued by WeMade, and converted into cash through the virtual asset exchange.

You can convert a character to NFT, store it in 'Wemix Wallet', and trade it in the NFT market.

Wemade's global item trading platform

At EXD (Exchange by Draco), the Mir 4 global item 'Harmony Dragon Sword' was traded for 160,000 Draco. That's equivalent to $81,976.

The characteristics of MMORPGs and NFTs are combined to create a synergistic effect.

MMORPGs require a long period of time and money to develop characters.

*MMORPGs
This is because the value of the NFT, a game character, can increase in proportion to the time and money invested to develop a game character that forms a character's personality and solves problems through role-playing.

Mir 4 maintains a level of 80,000 concurrent users on Steam, and is so popular that the number of concurrent users recorded up to 97,000.

WeMade for blockchain-based games has been evaluated as realizing its vision through Mir 4 and suggesting the future and direction of blockchain-based games.

9. The Sandbox

[caption id="attachment_5279" align="aligncenter" width="346"] The Sandbox[/caption]

Features: $1.1 billion Series B investment
Evaluation: Blockchain version of Minecraft The Axieinfinity game we looked at earlier was meaningful as a game that could be connected to NFT and earn money while playing, but it was a simple game that fostered characters through character-to-character battles and crossbreeding.

On the other hand, a sandbox is a more advanced game platform that creates characters, items, and games in a huge virtual space called Metaverse and sells them as NFTs.

The Sandbox was held in a funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2.
It has raised $1.1 billion in Series B funding.

The Sandbox is an NFT platform that supports the building and monetization of holdings of virtual gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain.

Users can issue and take ownership of NFTs on the platform, and they can also use the P2E (Play to Earn) model to monetize the time they spend on the metaverse.

This is the first time SoftBank Vision Fund 2 has invested in a virtual asset (cryptocurrency) issuer.

The Sandbox is issuing its own virtual asset sand (SAND). The Sandbox creates characters, items, and sculptures through 'Vox Edit', a 3D creation tool provided free to users.

Produced characters, etc. can be issued with Ethereum ERC-721 or ERC-1155 tokens (=NFT) and sold on the in-game marketplace.

Game users can purchase virtual real estate called in-game LAND with sand.

Rand has a fixed quantity, so the value increases as the number of buyers increases.

The Sandbox signed an agreement with Naver's 'ZEPETO' and released 970 ZEPETO NFTs and distributed them at The Sandbox.

This is one of the representative cases in which NFT's inter-platform reciprocity is applied.

Since ZEPETO NFT can only be purchased with sand, it is evaluated as one of the good cases in which the utility of the token is increased by the expansion of the platform.

 

 

10. Decentraland

[caption id="attachment_5280" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Decentraland[/caption]

Features: Representative NFT digital real estate app
Rating: Cryptopunk, original NFT app with CryptoKitties

As blockchain technology advances, new metaverses are emerging.

Decentraland is a prime example.

Decentraland is a virtual reality gaming platform. Within the platform, users can own real estate, including land.

Decentraland is one of the platforms classified as original NFT apps along with Cryptopunk and CryptoKitties.

As it is a virtual reality service based on real estate and blockchain, Decentraland allows real estate transactions similar to the real world.

The divided land in the game is called LAND, and all lands except roads and squares can be bought and sold.

Ownership of land is recorded and stored on the block chain and is

You can build any building you want and trade with other users.

The currency used to buy and sell Rand is called Mana.

It is a unique cryptocurrency that can only be used in Decentraland.

Mana can also be traded on common cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Kraken.

At the beginning of 2020, the price of one MANA token was only 2-4 cents, but by April 2021 it has risen to $1.5.

In Decentraland, various buildings such as art museums and casinos Axiest, as well as events such as fashion shows.

It is the 'community' that manages this virtual world.

It is not owned by a single central organization, but by 'everyone' who has actively participated in Decentraland.

Users decide how to govern and evolve Decentraland using decentralized autonomous (DAO) smart contracts.

For example, submitting proposals and voting on policies regarding land deals or whether certain content is allowed.

Decentraland serves as a public forum where artists, collectors and crypto experts can share various information and discuss NFT and metaverse.

So far, we have looked at the TOP 10 NFT projects. It has been used in many fields. How many more changes will our society undergo with NFT?